Contribution to the extensification/intensification debate: new trends in the Portuguese montado

The montado is the agro-silvo pastoral system specific to the region of Ale ntejo. Southern Portugal, comprising an open formation of cork and helm oak s in varying densities, combined with a rotation of crops/fallow/pastures. Case studies in different. areas of Alentejo, combining the land use and th e farmers' decision making, have shown recent extensification in different sub-types of montado. The agro-silvo pastoral system is in transition towar ds a silvo-pastoral or even purely forestry system. Cultivation is becoming less important in the system rotation, whereas livestock production is bec oming more relevant and the ground cover is used only as pasture. The cork is still valuable and, in most cases, is the first priority in the exploita tion. New alternative uses are arising; they include hunting and rural tour ism, both intended to support the preservation of the traditional landscape s. All these uses are supported directly or indirectly by the EU's CAP; for example, through agro-environmental measures. Although scrub patches are b ecoming larger, complete land abandonment is rare. These land use systems a re based on a use that is even more extensive. Consequently the landscape i s changing, but a new equilibrium, displaying new land cover mosaics, might be attained. Concomitantly, intensification is occurring in certain areas. It causes deg radation as a result of various management factors: (a) harvesting activity and deep ploughing in the areas where crops are cultivated, (b) too high s tocking rates in relation to the carrying capacity of the system, impeding, for example, the natural regeneration of the tree cover; (c) introduction of heavy cattle breeds, which aggravates the problem of overstocking and re sults in direct damage to the soil structure and to the tree root system. T he clearing of the shrub layer with heavy machinery affects the Quercus reg eneration in both extensively and intensively managed patches, but no effec tive alternatives have yet been found. Today, the main landscape problem of the montado is not the abandonment of the system due to extensification, but is rather. (1) whether the current e xtensification is leading to a new equilibrium in an extensive silvo-pastor al or merely forestry system, and what type of landscape mosaic this change is creating; and (2) whether it is possible to avoid short-term intensific ation and improve mechanisation to clear shrubs without degradation; (3) to what extent these changes depend on the CAP and how they will react to CAP changes in the future. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.